Ex-teacher's husband in Landmark case admits prostitution charge

Sep. 19, 2013

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What is promoting prostitution?

Mark Fiedler could be sentenced to a maximum of seven years in prison for a Class C felony. If convicted, Laura Fiedler faces a possible maximum term of four years for a lesser, Class D felony. The wording of the law for the more serious charge is promoting prostitution by "managing, supervising, controlling or owning, either alone or in association with others, a house of prostitution or a prostitution business..." The less serious charge is described as knowingly promoting prostitution.

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A guilty plea has come in a case accusing a Springfield couple — the woman at the time an elementary teacher — of running a prostitution business out of a prominent downtown office building.

Mark Fiedler, 43, this morning admitted the Class C felony of promoting prostitution in the second degree, which could put him in prison for seven years.

He and his wife Laura Fiedler, a Springfield Public Schools teacher at the time, are accused of arranging meetings between people seeking sex through online ads and alleged prostitutes.

The crimes occurred in an office space leased by the Fiedlers in the Landmark Building, police said.

The Fiedlers had claimed they thought they were scheduling legitimate massages, court documents show. The case against Laura Fiedler, 36, continues; a pre-trial conference is set for next week.

She is charged with the lesser Class D felony of promoting prostitution in the third degree. If convicted, it carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Her attorney, Dee Wampler, said she will not plead guilty.

The charges sprung from a sting operation by the Springfield Police Department.

Sentencing for Mark Fiedler is set for Nov. 14.

His wife, a school district employee since 2001, was making $38,002 as a teacher in the 2010-11 school year. After she was charged, the district kept her employed for months on paid administrative leave but she eventually no longer appeared on the list of teachers or the payroll.

Today, Teresa Bledsoe, spokeswoman for the school district, said Laura Fiedler is still an employee of the district but has been on unpaid administrative leave since Dec. 31, 2012.

An online database previously provided to the News-Leader listed her as a fourth-grade teacher. She had also taught third grade.

The couple was charged in early 2012, though they were first arrested about a year earlier.

The investigation began in December 2010 when police say an anonymous citizen tipped detectives off to a "rub down" offer he received from a woman he only knew as "Connie."

The woman allegedly directed the citizen to her advertisement on a free classified ad site similar to Craigslist. Under a section on the site called Adult, "body rubs" are offered.

The women involved in the alleged ring told police the Fiedlers received $35 per client from their fees, police said.

The women also allegedly told police they used their cellphones to contact the Fiedlers about clients requesting rubdowns. Some of the clients paid for and received fondling for sexual purposes, court documents say.